Between The Two of Us 

What did our children ever do to me and you

to justify what we are putting them through? 

you can hate me if you need to, hate me if you must
But can’t we keep the pain -
between the two of us?

Our friends are changing uniforms and moving to their teams
defending and offending, when they think that’s what we need
And years of care and kindness are clearly not enough
when people feel they need to choose-
between the two of us

She doesn’t even know you she is not your enemy
She only sees the things that you couldn’t see in me
When she found me broken, she stopped to pick me up
Can’t we keep our anger -
between the two of us?

He seems like a good guy, I’d like to shake his hand
Buy him a whiskey and get to know the man
How did it ever happen that you lost faith in me this much?
After all the love that was -
between the two of us
After all the love that was -
between the two of us

Its Bigger than Me 

I should have asked more questions
I should have said some things
spent less time rushing
and more time listening
 
But how we love means less
the deeper that love goes
and we both felt 
the things we couldn't show
 
That brings me comfort now
when I need comfort most
to take me with you
as I let you go 
 
Chorus
Because it’s bigger than mel
this life I’m living
this world that's turning
this love I’m giving
Is bigger than me
so, I'll face this sorrow
and then embrace tomorrow
and whatever it brings,
because it’s bigger than me
 
The dance is moving forward
this conga line of grief
sweet condolences 
and all our memories
 
The cars and football games
the stories bubble out
exposing things
we never knew about
 
We feel it like was
We laugh and then we cry
I kiss your forehead 
and I say goodbye
 
Repeat Chorus
And...
 
And will love my children
and I will love myself
and all this world
because there’s nothing else
 
That matters in the end
and nothing we can take
but how we choose 
to give our love each day
 
Repeat Chorus out

Make Me Believe it's True 

Verse
I can’t hear you
why are you mumbling?
Speak up clearly, now
and say your leaving me
B Section
I can take pain
and in time, I’ll get over you
but I won’t be able to walk away
till you make me believe it’s true
till you make me believe it’s true
walk beside me
if it’s only one last time 
No more hiding
Even if you can’t say why
tell me there is nothing left
and nothing more that I can do
‘cause I won’t stop trying to change your mind
till you make me believe it’s true
till you make me believe it’s true
Bridge
If you ever loved me
try to not be kind
cut me if thats what you feel
drive in the blade like you mean it now
make me understand this is real
Verse
I am sorry
I know it not really fair
to make you show me
something that isn’t there
B Section
But I can help it, it's what I need
to be sad and be happy for you
and who would I be if I let you go
till I really believe it's true?
till you make me believe its true

A Way of Keeping Score 

They never knew my friend
but they all talked about her
They never heard her sing
or met her familly
 
They had something to say
so they went ahead and said it
because it helped them fill their day
and it made them feel important
 
People aren’t people anymore
there just a way of keeping score
 
She tried hard to get straight
but they will ever know that
and the difference she made
to all of those she loved
 
they saw her on their screens
they felt they had the right
to judge for their amusement  
the value of her life
 
People aren’t people anymore
there just a way of keeping score
 
Musical Bridge)
 
I stand here in this line
with the smiling and the crying
and all of those who know
and those who really care
and shame on all of you
who think that her life mattered
because it helped you make your point
and fed your broken soul
 
People aren’t people anymore
there just a way of keeping score
People aren’t people anymore
There just a way of keeping score 

With Mary by the Ocean (Revised) 

I never walked with Mary by the ocean
Never held her hand
Never kissed her in the sand
Beneath the pier
Or heard June Christie sing
Willow weep for me
So sweet and clear

I never fell in love that magic summer
when she was sweet 16
and she had all her dreams
come true
 
Chorus
Mary's bright blue eyes are somewhere back in time
I am by her side
But she is on the Jersey shore
 
She calls me by a name I've never heard before
And it is plain to see
That in her memory
She loves him so
And for a little while
I get to see that smile
A gift from a man I'll never know

  

I wasn’t there to be her first true love
who went away to war
dying on a foreign shore
so far away
 
Repeat Chorus
 
Bridge
But I will be the man she loves
It's the least that I can do
In honor of a lifetime 
when I know that was true
 
I never walked with Mary by the ocean
But tonight I will
I'll stay with her until
She falls asleep
And what a lucky man am I
To be here by her side
Walking on the Jersey shore
What a lucky man am I 
To be here by her side
Walking on the Jersey shore 

I Know That Town 

I don’t slow down
when i’m driving by that town
pedal to the metal
my foot straight to the floor
I still drive by
exit 29
like I did before
I just don’t stop there anymore
I watch the road
and I keep a steady speed
the left hand lane
is where I need to be
I don’t stop for gas
till I join with 84
I know that town
I just don’t stop there anymore
She's the reason that I used to drive all night 
And the reason I won't stop tonight
When I see that city limit sign
I don't slow down
I don't slow down
This stretch of road 
is like a memory
running still 
from her brown eyes to me
A concrete truth
Not just a metaphor
I know that town
I just don't stop there anymore
I know that town
I just don’t stop there anymore 

A Song For Not Emily 

Her hair it was so black and long
That is my story now
partly cause the details
Just don’t matter anyhow
Let's say she was a redhead
or that she had tattoos
the point is, she was evil
that’s what  I’m telling you

 

Chorus
Oh, and, I will play these songs
the way I always do
with words that fit the lines
and every word is true
she put me down with everyone
but I won’t do the same
I blame Emily - but that’s not her real name

 

The truth is strange and fiction strains
to capture what is real
But love is neither here nor there
but only how it feels
My words they are a poets trick
The story I can tell
of how I once loved Satan
how she took me straight to hell

Oh, and, I will play these songs
the way I always do
with the words
that fit the lines
and all the lies
that feel most true
She told the world about  me
oh, but I won’t do the same
I blame Emily - but that’s not her real name

 

I’ve shared with you all that I can
some  places I won't go
and should you ever meet her
you would not even know
And the biggest lie of all
is how I must deceive 
Exaggerate the way she was
with jokes I don't believe 

 

And so I play these songs
The way I allways do
And every word is fiction
And every word is true
let her tell you who I am
But I won't do the same
I guess I still love Emily -
But that's not her real name

I do 

I’ve been thinking bout you
and the way you used to love me
back when you loved me
and in that moment
I am with you in my mind
and all the future 
that we said we left behind
of you and I together
of you and I forever
just like we said

 

Take a moment we both know
put it in a frame 
then let it go
There are some gifts
you can’t return 
and so must keep
You in my thoughts
and in my heart eternally
You and I together
You and forever
just like we said

 

Take my lifetime if you will
Take it 'cause its yours
It always was
And I wonder
if you ever feel it too
this sad and happy 
never ending deja vu
of You and I together
of You and I forever
just like we said

 

And I do, I do, I do
I do.

Sorry That I Missed You 

I‘m sorry that I missed you
but not sorry that I miss you
I wrote out the note
and I taped it to your door

Then I got back in my car
and I drove 300 hundred miles
far from the temptation
to keep asking you for more

I'm just sorry that I missed you
but not sorry that I miss you
oh, isn’t it a shame
When people misconnect that way?

But please don’t be alarmed
when you read this I’ll be far
away from here, theres no need to respond
no need to say a thing

Oh, I’m sorry that I missed you
but not sorry that miss you
that is all I had to say
Just a chance I had to take

Just a whim and one small hope
Just an offer, I suppose
'Cause I would get back in my car
and I would drive 300 miles
but I’ll leave it up to you
I will leave it up to you

Bowling 

Before I met her, I never went bowling
bowling just wasn’t my scene
I shot some pool and played pinball
but bowling never did much for me
We met one day folding blue jeans
at the small laundromat downtown
and she told me how she spent her weekends
and said that I should come around
Chorus
and how I loved bowling
even those rented shoes
all the nights we spent bowling
when our love was brand new
we were laughing and bowling
it was my perfect game
Oh, and once I went bowling
I was never the same
There was flo serving beer and stale popcorn
And nachos with that liquid cheese
The shirts with our names on the pockets
For the North Broken Falls bowling league
And with every new frame we filled in
I could see our love story unfold
Not a care in the world did we have in those day
You could say, that was just how we rolled
Repeat Chorus
But it true there was no happy ending
Just a sad gutter ball of despair
For she'd given her heart to the ten pins
My true love, just had no love to spare
I recall how I cried when she left me
As she went off to follow her dream
Now I see her sometimes on the pro bowlers tour
On late night and morning  tv
Chorus
and how I loved bowling
even those rented shoes
all the nights we spent bowling
when our love was brand new
we were laughing and bowling
it was my perfect game
but now, I never go bowling
it just isn’t the same.